The following relates generally to wireless communication, and more specifically to interleaved beam sweeping for synchronization and random access.
Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, and orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems. A wireless multiple-access communications system may include a number of base stations, each simultaneously supporting communication for multiple communication devices, which may each be referred to as a user equipment (UE).
In some cases, a wireless network may operate in millimeter wave (mmW) spectrum. Using mmW spectrum may result in additional attenuation which may impact the link budget of the communications. In some cases, wireless devices operating in mmW spectrum may utilize beamforming to increase the strength of wireless signals in particular directions. However, using beamforming techniques may create undesired latency for a UE in receiving broadcast signals from the base station. For example, UEs outside of the initial range of a beamforming sweep may not receive system information to be used for system access, or receive such system information more slowly than UEs inside the initial range of the beamforming sweep, or when beamforming techniques are not used.